My Duck Dog Training A to ?

This past weekend we attended the Long Point Retriever Training Club’s Field Trial. Myself, Jo, Jenni, Andrew and both dogs camped out for two nights and I ran Tucker in the Qual Stake and Artemis in the Junior Stake. The judges in both stakes were Lee Woodhouse (aka Lips) enjoying his first stint in the chair and his co-judge Bill Kennedy, whose dog handling skills are only overshadowed only by his rapier whit - makes a fair judge too. Very much like playing Black Jack in Vegas - you know the game is gonna cost you money but it is easier to forget that when the guy(s) in control make it enjoyable.The Qual:
The first series was a wide open stand out triple land marking series. There was a pool of lunging water about 20 yards off of the line that influenced the dogs on the two memory marks. The cover was thick to shoulder height and had lots of small conifers and scrub bushes extending just over head height - great for pushing the dogs off line on route. Tucker came to the line eagerly but under control. For the first time in a long time he sat on the mat patiently as the marks were shot left to right. His head swinging was not evident and this was the portion of the test with which I was most nervous about. He collected the go bird without a hunt and heeled in nicely to deliver the bird - no rolling or dropping - again a nice change.

I lined him up for the second bird (middle) and he glanced at the right memory bird. I was able to get him to lock on the middle bird and then I sent him (in hind site, perhaps I snt him too quickly). Ten yards from the line he turned left and split the memory marks. Were it a training situation I would have No-Here’d him and resent. But it being a test I allowed him to roll hoping he’d remember before to long. He didn’t. The judges cautioned me that he was not allowed to run in the adjacent planted field located beyond the test. I acknowledged their instruction and before Tucker made it to the field he turned and began hunting in. There was a pond that was not visible from the line that Tucker decided to hunt in - he disappeared behind the berm holding the water in the pond. The judges then asked if I could see my dog, did I know where he was? My reply was yes, TOOT-TOOT-TOOT HERE HERE - he’ll soon be right beside me - I picked him up.

I was disappointed but not discouraged by his performance. The way he ran this set up was almost identical to how he ran the tight triple at The Farm in training last week. Then, I neglected to correct him so how can I expect him to know the correct way to run a similar set up. My disappointment was directed at myself for creating the response and to Tucker for what I consider a lack of effort. I will not be running Tucker at Lee & Howard’s trial - he needs more training with appropriate intervention to show him what is expected of him.

So ended Tucker’s first ‘09 Field Trial.

Artemis ran in the Junior Stake the following day. The first two series were land doubles. She lined up for me very well and I had no problem getting her to focus on the birds that were being shot. After I had run the first series, Lee Woodhouse, one of our judges and one of my training partners leaned in to take the last bird from me and quietly asked me why I had stepped in to swing her to the go bird gun station BEFORE the memory bird was on the ground. I had been looking at my dog rather than the guns and while I had counted what I considered a good amount of time, the gunner was a touch slow on throwing the bird after the gun had gone off. This created NO problem for her, as Artemis locked on the memory throw until the go bird gun was fired.
There was one of 15 dogs dropped following the first series. The second series was run in much sparser cover and was considerably longer - memory bird was about 260yds out. Artemis had hunts on all four of her land marks - which was not as good as she had been doing in training but I considered it still pretty good work. In fact, I had been concerned that due to the lack of hunts she had to put on in training that her perseverance to dig a bird out would not be developing. This series of test put my fears to bed. The judges dropped another 3 dogs following this series reducing the field to 11 of the original 15. Heading to the water there were about 4 dogs that had done superior work than Artemis and a bunch that had done similar.

We knew it would take the judges some time to set up the water series so we took this opportunity to head back to our camp and strike our tents and stow our gear for the trip home. The kids were even able to get in a quick 25 minute swim while Jo and I packed the van. Upon arrival at the Water Series I watched two dogs get completely lost on the water SINGLE that the judges had set up. Apparently only one of the first 5 dogs had been successful in collecting the mark and the judges then made the decision to scrap the test and set up a new one in an adjacent pond.

The test was a water double with the memory bird being the ‘money bird’. Down off of a dyke with a 30yd angle entry into the water. The perfect line took the dog over a floating log that was located between two dead snags. There was suction on the right created by an island and a point that some of the dogs chose to beach on. There was suction on the left created by open water once the dogs got past the snags. This proved to be a very good bird to test marking ability, perseverance and bravery on for our young dogs.

Artemis had her first line mistake of the day on this test. She acknowledged the close go bird station and as instructed she locked on the memory bird station. As I called for the first bird she glanced at the go bird station. I was able to get her to swing back to the memory bird but I believe the damage to her mental picture was already done. She collected the go bird well and on the line she quickly and completely locked on the memory bird. I sent her and she skipped down the hill, making me nervous that she may balk at even entering the water. She entered with a hard splash and she began to make the 120yd swim. Artemis began to look around at about the half way point and she had drifted to the left side of the left snag, well off of the direct line. After she passed the snag she spotted the white gun station and her swim to the gunner took her directly over the floating log that was the best line to the mark. Unfortunately she only managed to get over the log heading from left of the line to the gun station - certainly not the best line. She beached on the correct side of the gunner but then set up her hunt and hunted the right side of the gun station (bird was on the left side) she quickly extended her hunt to include the left side and when she made her way back to the waters edge she winded the bird and collected if without further effort.

Based on this last bird, I suspected that she would be worthy of a CM but not in the ‘colours’ today - this proved correct. Artemis took home a Certificate of Merit or Greenie. This signifies that she did the work but there were at least 5 dogs that did superior work to her on the tests presented.
At the award presentations I was pleasantly surprised by the number of notable pro and respected amateurs handlers that stepped up to shake my hand on congratulations for earning our CM. While a CM in Junior is only a minor blip in their careers, they acknowledged that for me it was an accomplishment - hopefully one of at least a few in the years to come.

My training partner Greg Larden and his wife Tina also ran their dog Suzy in the Qual Stake. Suzy did a great job on the first series of marks and was invited back to run the land blind, actually a double blind located between to of the earlier series marks. She ran the short blind really well and it appeared that she may line the long blind but about 15 yards short of the blind stake she angled left. Unfortunately Greg was unable to get her to respond to all of his casts and she was not carried to the water blind. Still, we were all pretty pleased with her performance, just need to keep training.

Another friend Marc Comtois and his wife Arlene were running their dog Ace (littermate to Artemis) in the Junior Stake. She ran fantastic all day long and they were rewarded with the BLUE ribbon - FIRST PLACE! Way to go Marc - It’s been a hard earned reward for some really good training. Robert Wright ran another Artemis litter mate, Storm. They had a GREAT first two series. Storm was the ONLY dog to complete a retrieve at the water test that the judges scrapped. Unfortunately, storm had some trouble on the last bird of the water double - tough break! Hopefully we’ll see them out a few times later this summer.

A new friend, Tom Robins, ran his Chessie to a RCM finish. Coooowe, I’ll tell ya what, this Dawg can mark. Anyone interested in buying a Field Trial prospect Chessie, let me know, I’ll get you Tom’s contact info!! (nice job Tom)

There were two other trainer/handlers I’ve trained with at The Farm running in this Junior Stake.  Ian Crokem with Izzy and Martin Pinder with his Chessie Deep.  Izzy had some confusion on the first series and came back to the line without a duck.  On the resend Izzy easily picked up the bird showing he had marked the bird but with thr resend was eliminated from competition.  While running test dog n the second series Izzy did a great job.  Deep ran the first three series well but ran into difficulty (as Artemis did) on the final bird of the test.  He was certain the bird was thrown up on shore and following a prolonged hunt, Deep came up with the bird.  Unfortunately the judges felt he had mis-marked the bird sufficently to be removed for the competition.  Talking with Martin after the test he suggested that Deep’s confusion stemmed from training on longer water exits similer to those he’ll find in All Age Stakes.  Illustrating yet another pitfall we as trainer/handlers we need to be aware of and avoid.

Although this weekend was ‘all about the dawgs’, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention the social (human) aspect of the trial. We camped at a local conservation area and were VERY impressed with the facilities and maintenance of the grounds. We were only minutes from all of the venues and were able to have a camp fire both nights that adults and kids alike enjoyed. Greg Larden and Tina shared our site with us and that made the weekend all the more enjoyable. The host club put on a Tailgate party on Saturday night that was fantastic - steamed muscles, plank cooked salmon, pork roast, 4 types of salads, veggies, desert - just a great spread. We were able to talk to a number of old friends and make a couple of new friends - just a first class affair.

For our two kids the weekend could have been long but they seemed to enjoy themselves. A number of adults engaged them in conversations at various points in the trip and both read their books and cheered Artemis & Tucker on in their ‘games’. I know that for them both of the camp fires were the highlight of the weekend - we’ll definitely revisit the camping aspect of future Trials to keep the kids interested in attending with us.